Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, Day Four (part one)April 9, 2007After two excellent games to start off the tournament, Ubaka came down to earth and put up a real stinker in his team’s 20-point blowout. His outside shot, one of the stronger points of his game, wasn’t falling today at all, and he had major trouble getting into the paint against the extremely tough defense of Old Dominion’s Drew Williamson. Ubaka’s lack of quickness was exposed to a certain extent in this game, and he got too flashy with his ball-handling, over-dribbling and not doing a very good job running his team’s offense. Ubaka should be able to redeem himself at the pre-draft camp in a few months, and he will surely draw interest thanks to his excellent size and intriguing offensive tools. [Read Full Article]Portsmouth Invitational Tournament: Day TwoApril 5, 2007Ayinde Ubaka did a great job improving on his day one performance, finding a perfect balance between distributing the ball to create for his teammates and working in some of his own scoring game, specifically with his prowess from mid-range. Ubaka had an excellent duel with opposing point guard Zabian Dowdell, as both went back and forth getting into the lane and either scoring themselves or kicking the ball out to teammates. Ubaka converted assists on multiple drive-and-dishes in the game, getting in the lane mostly using hesitation moves, starting and stopping to get his defender off balance. He did a very good job finding his teammates for open spot-up jumpers, and he actually dished out at least a handful of those passes that his teammates could not convert.

In terms of scoring for himself, Ubaka did a much better job today showing off his ability to score in the lane, hitting an array of impressive floaters and scoring off the glass when he got all the way to the rim. He got out in transition when he had the opportunity, scoring some lay-ups and dishing out assists as well, including one very impressive high-speed, look-away assist for a lay-up. Ubaka also showed off his outside scoring ability, hitting two NBA three-pointers, one on a pull-up and the other a spot-up.

Ubaka followed up on his solid performance in day one with a very strong one in day two, and if he puts up another performance like this, showing off the balance between scoring and distributing, he should have a good chance of getting into the Orlando pre-draft camp and putting himself in more serious NBA discussions. [Read Full Article]Portsmouth Invitational Tournament: Day OneApril 5, 2007Ubaka played a solid, but a-typical game that showed his overall skills well. Ubaka has always been noted for his small flashes of brilliance and he certainly had a solid inaugural showing at the PIT in his first game. Ubaka is a combo guard in its truest sense, he's not a pure passing point guard, but he has the eye and the court awareness to make the routine and the occasional spectacular play. Watching Ubaka play tonight it was easy to tell that he was trying to show those in attendance just how well he could harness his game and show his ability to make smart decisions and run the point.

The continuity in these games is lacking because of the short time-period that the players have to get accustomed to one another and the first day at the PIT displayed this to its fullest. But although the overall rhythm and consistency of the game was lacking, Ubaka was still able to make a number of plays that stood out. Ubaka moved the ball smartly and set up a number of his teammates off of penetration into the lane with fundamental drop offs and kick outs. In transition Ubaka was able to add a bit of flare to his passing, at one point no-looking a pass behind his back to the left-side cutter on the 3 on 1 break.

Defensively, Ubaka was efficient if not spectacular. He moved his feet well and stayed in front of his man when on-ball. Ubaka didn't stand out with his team defense, but he was aware of his teammates and ready to push the tempo when his team secured the ball. More active pressure on the ball-handler would serve him well for the next two games as Ubaka doesn't have superior footspeed and would benefit from picking up his assignment at halfcourt and forcing his man to use up clock or give up the ball.

Offensively, Ubaka was fairly restrained. He has had a number of explosive offensive games during his career at Cal, using a variety of in-between shots to fill up his stat lines. In today's game, Ubaka didn't show any of his motion shooting skills. On a number of possessions Ubaka passed up a relatively easy 10-12 foot floater or foul line extended pull-up jumper in favor of setting up a teammate. It was clear from his play that Ubaka was focused on showing scouts his ability to run a team and in some ways this took away from his full ability. Still, it was nice to see Ubaka hunker down and attempt to harness the fundamental elements of his game, something that speaks to his intangible qualities.

It'll be interesting to see if Ubaka can build off this solid performance and mix in some of the more impressive plays in his arsenal. Consistency has always been a question with Ubaka, but he's had games where his skills have certainly impressed. Overall he has a long way to go before he puts himself on the NBA radar, but this was a solid start. [Read Full Article]Stock Watch-- Tournament Week (Part Two, Stock Neutral)November 28, 2006Flying underneath the radar for the most part as far as NBA draft hype is concerned, Ayinde Ubaka is slowly but surely proving that he’s one of the best guards to be found on the West Coast. At 6-4, he has great size for the point guard position that he sometimes plays, and is bulky enough to not give up all that much when he moves over to the 2-guard spot. Although not an athletic freak by any stretch of the imagination, Ubaka is versatile enough in the things he does to make up for whatever he lacks in pure speed and explosiveness.

Ubaka showed us his bread and butter in the Alaska Shootout—his fantastic jump-shot. In his most impressive outing, he single-handedly kept Cal in the game against a tough Marshall team by nailing 5 of 6 shots from behind the arc, many of which came at the most opportune times possible when his team needed them most. He has a terrific stroke from behind the arc, with a quick release, excellent mechanics and nice range. He can hit them coming off screens from mid-range when playing off the ball, or pulling up off the dribble when creating his own shot. He hits tough shots with a man in his face and is crafty enough to utilize the pump-fake to step through and then slash through the lane.

More of a combo guard than a pure point at this stage in his career, Ubaka needs to improve his ball-handling skills to really maximize his chances in the draft. He is pretty patient and can certainly find the open man, sometimes in spectacular fashion, but he doesn’t seem to have the natural playmaking instincts you would hope as a pure lead guard. He’s an unselfish and very versatile combo who does a lot of things well, although nothing really great besides perhaps his shot. Becoming a better defender--or at least showing better effort in this area-- should be considered a top priority. He’ll get his chances and then some to impress NBA decision makers throughout the season in a marquee role at Cal and then in the draft process, starting probably in Portsmouth and/or the Pre-Draft camp. A selection in the 2nd round is certainly not out of the question, particularly if he can lead his team back to the NCAA tournament. [Read Full Article]